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We are so excited to announce our new Ella friends. Thank you so much to all those who entered, the talent blew us away. It was hard to choose so we expanded the group from nine to twelve. Welcome them to Ella.

Brenda

My name is Brenda Johnston. I live in suburbia with one husband, three kids, two frogs and one rabbit. My husband makes me laugh everyday and my kids give me something to look forward to when I wake up in the morning. As a homeschooling mom, my days are filled with building pyramids out of sugar cubes, collecting creepy crawlies to study and playing BINGO—lots of BINGO . . . do you know how many educational varieties of BINGO are out there?

Aside from scrapbooking, I love to read, cook, and volunteer at our church. Scrapbooking is my biggest outlet, it’s how I relax at the end of a day. I view scrapbooking as a productive hobby—-my kids LOVE looking at their scrapbooks and we, as parents, know that when they are our age, they will remember what we were like as a family—-the good stuff and the challenging stuff.

Diana

My name is Diana Chen, aka the Lonely Scrapbooker. I called my blog that two years ago because here in Jamaica (I thought at the time) I was the only scrapbooker on the island. Yes, I’m Jamaican, born and bred, though did college & grad school in the USA—yes, I went to grad school and I’m a scrapbooker! I’m an intellectual scrapbooker. (That’s supposed to be funny, by the way.)

For some people, the idea of living in Jamaica sounds like paradise. For those who watch the international news, they might think it’s, well, hell. It’s actually somewhere in between that. But back to scrapbooking. I’ve had some success converting friends and friends of friends to scrapbooking, so I’m not lonely anymore. I’d even like to think I’ve started a little trend here in Jamaica, which makes me very, very happy.

Because scrapbooking makes me happy, and I’m happy that others are discovering that too. So lots of happiness around here, and it’s all from scrapbooking. And from other things too… like, perhaps, my three children, and my sweet husband who is super supportive of my scrapbooking addiction and never complains that I have too much stuff.

Donna

My name is Donna Jannuzzi. I live in Southern California with my husband and two boys, Gabe and Nathan. I am a stay-at-home mom and even on the tough days I feel blessed to live this life and to have this vocation. Life with my three guys is busy, happy and a little bit crazy. They make me laugh everyday.

Of course I love scrapbooking. And sketches. I was ecstatic when I was given the opportunity to write an eBook for Ella and I'm ecstatic to be an Ella Friend this year!

Besides scrapbooking I love photography, reading and cooking. My family is very supportive of all of my hobbies and luckily for me I have a husband who doesn't mind being subjected to my cooking experiments (he also doesn't mind doing the dishes). If I could have my way, and it was nutritionally sound, I'd have ice cream, chocolate and coffee everyday. Alas, I cannot have my way, so most days I skip the ice cream and the chocolate. Just please, don't take away my coffee!

Francine

My name is Francine Clouden and I love, nay, I live scrapbooking. Once I started scrapbooking it quickly became my favourite way to tell stories about my life, past and present. I had always failed at keeping a journal, but scrapbooking stuck. I like to think of it as my visual journal. Now that I have a son, I am carrying on the story telling tradition for him and for me. My heart belongs to paper scrapping, but the techno geek in me can't resist playing with digital and hybrid too!

I also love many other forms of crafting like sewing and general paper crafting. I spend way too much time looking at design, decor and crafting blogs, and adding more project ideas than I could possibly complete in my lifetime, to my bookmarks and Tumblr micro blog.

Jenni

My name is Jenni Hufford and I am from Indianapolis, IN. I am married to my wonderful husband Todd and we have two children, Jonah James (4) and Jordan Nicole (2). I feel so fortunate to be able to stay at home with them during the day.

I have been scrapbooking for four years and have used this hobby to document everything from wonderful memories to challenging times in my life. In addition to scrapbooking (and all things crafty), I love travelling with my husband, Colts football, cooking, Bible Study, meeting new people, "Glee", reading, movie nights, and a nice glass of red wine.

Jennifer

My name is Jennifer Larson. I grew up in Maine and have lived in Minnesota since I attended college at St. Olaf, met my husband at the Mall of America, and settled down to teach English to high school students. I am the blessed, tired mother of two boys and a slightly neurotic but affectionate cat.

I started making cards in 1999, but I became enamored with scrapbooking when I was pregnant with my firstborn in 2002 and attended a basic scrapbooking class at my local scrapbook store. I always try to bring some sort of structure and whimsy to my pages, and if I'm smiling when I finish it, it's a great page.
Find Me Here: Midwest Scrapgarden

Keshet

My name is Keshet (pronounced KESH-et, if you’re wondering!) Starr, and I’m a twenty-five year old gal living in the grand city of Elizabeth, New Jersey. I share my lovely two-bedroom apartment with my (very patient and scrapbook-supportive) hubby, Steve. We’re both lawyers, but contrary to public opinion, we don’t have dramatic, analytical arguments quoting legal sourcesJ.

I grew up in Hawaii and Ohio ( I like diversity), and try to visit them whenever I can—although Hawaii is a bit harder to get to. When I was sixteen years old, I discovered scrapbooking through a fluke (stay tuned for that story another time!) and was immediately hooked.

I’m completely head over heels with every aspect of scrapbooking, whether it’s the cutting and pasting, the shopping (who are we kidding), and the talking about it. I design for Who’s that Girl and Sketchy Thursdays, and when I’m not scrapbooking, I enjoy reading, baking, eating what I bake, and occasionally (this is between you and me) watching The Real Housewives.
Find me here: Over the Rainbow

Lee

My name is … Lee Currie. I live a full life with my four kids and husband in Oakville, Ontario, Canada. I am a dedicated uni-tasker, insatiably curious and generally opinionated; I have a big laugh, a love of neatly folded laundry, an aversion to talking on the phone and I’m in constant search of good light. Even with much evidence to the contrary, I believe the world is filled with possibility and promise and I am enjoying every minute of this journey.

My most fulfilling adventure, so far, is keeping up with my energetic kids and entrepreneurial husband. Since leaving the stale corporate world eons ago, I have filled my time with hours spent in hockey rinks, enjoying recitals, on gridirons and pitches, on school grounds, in auditoriums and on lakesides as parent, cheerleader and volunteer. My family is always going at a break-neck pace: four directions at once.

My job is to slow things down and add perspective and record as much of it as I can. When not parenting my joy is found messing up the studio, on the computer writing and blogging and in the kitchen enjoying a cup of hot coffee and ever-changing lake view.
Find me here:
Blog: thelinarstudioTwitterFlickr

Mary Jo

My name is Mary Jo Johnston and I am beyond excited to be joining the Ella Team! I discovered scrapbooking a little over 10 years ago and quickly turned to designing cards and mini albums; my favorite projects to create. I love that this hobby allows us to record those every day moments of our life.

I am fortunate to have my work published in CARDS, Scrapbook Trends, Paper Crafts Magazine, Creating Keepsakes and a variety of Idea Books. I have the pleasure of designing digital and hybrid projects for Peppermint Creative and Two Peas in a Bucket, as a member of their creative teams, and recently served on the 2010 American Crafts Design Team.

I live in Indiana with my husband, Derek, and when I’m not chasing our four year old twins (rarely!) you can find me searching for fun, edible foods to create for them ( I love to cook and especially foods you can play with!), baseball games or spending time with family and friends.
For a peek into my days and crafty projects, visit here

May

My name is May Flaum, and I like to have a good time. Whether playing with my two daughters, spending time with my husband, cleaning house, teaching a class, or enjoying a book in peaceful solitude I’m all about focusing on the positive. Perhaps that’s why I’ve adopted an anything goes approach to scrapbooking, my goals being simply to capture memories and stories, and have a good time while doing it.

You can find me teaching at Big Picture Classes as well as the occasional local store class, designing for Scarlet Lime, Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L, The Girls’ Paperie, and Tim Holtz as well as writing for ScrapbookUpdate.com.

My favorite things include vintage inspired goods, lilac (color and flower), dessert, buttons, ribbons, and reading a good (happy ending) book. I’m a girl who likes to keep busy and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I rarely sit still. I’m too busy looking for my next inspiration or seeking out something to bring a bit of happy to my day.

Monika

My name is Monika Wright and I have more craft projects in my head than I have time to create. But, gosh, I sure do try. And, yes, my husband sometimes grumbles about the time spent in my craft room, but I can’t help myself!

I’ve always adored making gifts, but it wasn’t until recently when I found online crafting and scrapbooking blogs that I pushed myself to learn a few new things: how to post to online galleries, how to blog and lastly, becoming an Etsy shop owner. I am so glad that I did, too, because I love sharing ideas and projects with others.

A little bit about me: wife to a man who is patient, funny, kind and puts up with me {so that’s a bonus!}, mother to one boy who is an 18-year old college freshman, one girl who is a second-grade school-loving, book-reading fiend and another girl who is a pre-schooler whose spunkiness is a blessing as well as a challenge.

I look forward to sharing my love of mini-albums, home decor projects, altered art items and, of course, scrapbooking layouts with you during the next year.

Valerie

Hi! My name is Valerie Mangan and I’ve been making scrapbook pages, mini albums and cards since 2003. I’m mom to Christopher and Marilyn and wife to Dan. We live happily in New Jersey, a few miles from the ocean and just about 40 minutes south of New York City.

By day I work as an interior designer – a job that continually inspires and influences my paper crafts. I’m also a baker, I love photography, art, design and yard sales. I tend to work in a simple linear style but also love to mix pattern, layer material & sew on my projects.

My scrapbooking philosophy is simple: the paper and ‘stuff’ is for me, the photos and words are for my family. I try to keep that in mind when I’m working to make sure the stories get told. I‘ve been a fan of Ella since day one. I’m thrilled to be here & have the opportunity to spread the word about Ella and this hobby And if I inspire a paper crafter or two along the way, that will be fantastic!
Find me here:Paper and CookiesGalleryTwitter

Such a talented group!! We are so looking forward to getting to know them better and sharing their talents with everyone.

We've sorted through all of our Ella Friend applications, and we've made our selections! It wasn't easy. FAR from easy, in fact.

The talent pool out there is simply overwhelming. We had it narrowed down to 30 for the longest time, but we knew we had to chip away to a more manageable team size. We couldn't choose based on design talent alone, so we heavily figured in the applicants' activity online (whether they blog, use Twitter and Facebook, and how many online forums or message boards they're involved in). We also looked for geographic variety, scrapbooking style variety, and variety of family makeup (not everyone with the same number of kids all the same ages).

In the end, we had to rely somewhat on the general vibe we got from each applicant. You just have the feeling, "Hey, this one could work out. And so could this one. And this one..."

Here are a few fun facts about our final list:

We selected some scrapbookers we've never heard of before (and are dying to get to know better).

We selected a few scrapbookers we've actually worked with before, so we're well acquainted with their mad skills.

ALL of our final Ella Friends were chosen from among the applicants we received.

We narrowed our final list to 12 total Ella Friends.

Three of the 12 live in California. (It just couldn't be helped.)

Three of the 12 live outside the United States.

Two are from New Jersey and two are from Indiana.

None are from Utah, Ella's international headquarters.

The new Ella Friends have a total of 30 children (counting stepchildren).

Stay tuned to find out who these 12 talented women are...here on The Daily Trumpet.

1) Tweet this message to your Twitter followers:
Last chance to win in @ellapublishing's Birthday Bash! Prizes from Shutterfly, Scrapbook.com & Little Yellow Bicycle! http://ow.ly/2KdZK
2) Blog about our birthday bash (with a link in your post) and include the link in the comments below.
3) Post a comment on any blog out on the www telling people to visit our birthday bash, and include a link to it in the comments below.

Leave another comment below for each item above you completed by Thursday, September 30. (Honor system for the extra entries please.)

Writing this series has proven to be a great opportunity for me borrow ideas from some of my BSFs (best scrappy friends) and pick their brains to figure out how they work their magic with paper and glue. If you missed the first two posts, you can read them here and here.

This week, I asked the oh-so-talented Lisa Kisch to create a two-page vacation themed layout to help me get my creative process started. Imagine my delight when this beauty arrived in my email inbox:

I'm a real fan of clean lines and a sense of order on a scrapbook page, so the grid on Lisa's layout caught my eye right away. The fresh, bright colour palette compliments the colours in her photos perfectly, and her perfectly placed embellishments add texture and visual interest without distracting from all the photos on the layout. Truly impressive!

I really wanted to take a closer look at Lisa's creative process, so I emailed her back with some questions.

Q: There are so many photos on your layout, and I'm sure you had lots more to choose from. How did you decide which photos to use to tell your story?

A: For the focal photo, I chose something classic to Victoria–the Empress Hotel. It's like picking the Eiffel Tower for Paris. It immediately tells you where you are. As for the grid... well, I am a grid girl. That's the best way to get lots of photos on a layout! This was a family day, so I made sure there were photos of everyone there on that day, a few photos of spots unique to the locale, and a few that just made me smile–like the bird on the Vancouver St. sign.

Q: What's your best tip for designing two page layouts? What percentage of your scrapbook is made of 2-pagers?

A: Probably 1/3 of my layouts are 2-pagers. I especially love a double 8.5x11 because it feels like magazine spread–and I am a magazine junky. When designing a 2 pager, don't feel that you have to fill all the space. White space is lovely… not that I used much of it in this layout!

Q: How do you choose your embellishments when you have so many photos on your layout?

A: I definitely prefer minimal embellishments on a two pager. I almost always place them in a visual triangle to move the eye around the page. You know the old rule about accessories? Get dressed, then take one thing off. That's my philosophy with embellishments. I usually test something out, then end up taking it off.

…..

Then it was time for me to get to work. Even though I'm a huge fan of 8.5x11 pages, I decided to convert Lisa's design into a two-page 12x12 sketch. I kept the same number of photos, but changed up the dimensions of the spaces for the title and journalling.

I decided to tackle one of my most recent trips, the one I took to China with my parents this past June. Keeping Lisa's tips in mind, I chose some photos and created this minimally embellished page.

…..

I keep forgetting to mention… if you like sketches, make sure you check out Ella's eBook on sketches, Stretch Your Sketches, where you'll find lots of original sketches along with some awesome tricks to modify any sketch to work optimally with your photos and stories. This is one of the best sketch books I've seen in my years of scrapbooking.

I'll finish off this week's post by thanking Lisa for helping me get over the creative paralysis I felt every time I looked at my vacation photos. If you'd like to see more of Lisa's work, check out the cover of the fall issue of Scrapbook and Cards Today magazine, which coincidentally was just released today!

Thanks again to Lee, Nathalie and Lisa, three of my BSFs, for helping me out these past weeks. I hope you're inspired to go forth and get those vacation photos scrapped!

In the July issue of Scrapbook Ellaments (and also on our blog last month), we announced an amazing ongoing contest based on Eight is Enough: Easy ways to stretch supplies and use leftovers by April Foster and Studio Calico. If you don't have the eBook yet, first of all BUY IT HERE or check out Celeste Smith's article to see what this cool contest is all about.

Every month, as we select a new winner, we're pulling from our entire pool of entries. So if you submitted an entry already, you could still be chosen in future months! Jennifer's entry came in quite a while ago, but we loved her creative use of her supplies and had to share it with you.

Jennifer's Eight Products

1) Paper - Great Find (October Afternoon)

2) Paper - Seamstress (Little Yellow Bicycle)

3) Paper - Focal Point (Studio Calico)

4) Paper - Woodie (Studio Calico)

5) Cardstock letter stickers (Studio Calico)

6) Sticker sheet (Fly a Kite by October Afternoon)

7) Homefront Die cut stickers (Studio Calico)

8) scallop circle punch (EK Success)

Layout #1

"I hand cut the stars from one of the pattern papers and used that as embellishments. I also hand cut one of the edges from pattern paper and placed it on the left of the picture. I used the journaling stickers as a group underneath the picture to place all of my journaling. Then I used a white sharpie to outline the layout."

Layout #2

"I used my scallop punch to create the banner. I lifted this idea from Maggie Holmes (on the Studio Calico DT). I also used the scallop punch to very carefully punch the red half circles that I placed between the banners. Then I hand doodled on the banner and around the layout."

Layout #3

"I hand cut patterned paper to create the borders on this layout. Then I used the rest of the pattern paper as the backdrop for the pictures."

Layout #4

"I used the leftover banners to create the flower in the bottom right hand corner. I lifted the idea off the Jenni Bowlin website. I also cut up a border sticker to create the journaling lines."

Jennifer's conclusion: "This was such a great challenge for me! I plan on doing this challenge several times to help me use my own scrap stash."

note: If the final layout in the series looks familiar, it's because it was also featured in a recent Liz's Loves spotlight here on The Daily Trumpet.

Jennifer has won Studio Calico's September Kit (pictured below) and a $15 gift certificate to Ella Publishing Co.

Your Turn

It's your turn! We hereby challenge you to come up with your own list of eight items from your stash of supplies and to stretch your list into four great layouts. (Absolutely no shopping allowed.) Make sure you include a mix of papers, accents, tools, and alphabets—whether stamps, die-cuts, or stickers. You can only use the items on your list, but cardstock, fonts, and standard tools (such as trimmers, journaling pens, or a sewing machine) are freebies.

When you’re done, e-mail us pictures of all four of your layouts, plus a picture of your eight original supplies, and an explanation of how you stretched them, and we’ll pick one winner each month through March 2011! E-mail questions and entries to submissions@ellapublishing.com, with “Eight is Enough” in the subject line.

Thanks to several alert Facebook friends, we recently discovered the existence of this adorably appropriate holiday, perhaps celebrated only at zoos and Disney theme parks nationwide. (Today is definitely Dumbo's day!) Nonetheless, it is our aim to make this a holiday to rival Arbor Day, if not Presidents' Day, for it's sheer celebratory glee.

And today we celebrate by giving away some poo. (And some other stuff, too.)

First up is the elephant mom-and-baby journal in burgundy and made from elephant poo.

Also up for grabs is the elephant silhouette journal, also in burgundy and made from elephant poo. Poo has truly never looked this good. And talk about upcycling! See everything this truly unique company has to offer by visiting poopoopaper.com.

For exra fun, here are two more fun elephant prizes that are not made from poo, but are still adorable in their own right:

Our friends over at cupcaketree.etsy.com are offering one Ella reader a customized, hand-carved elephant stamp created just for her!

Your name's not Annie? Not to worry! If you win, Cupcake Tree will carve the name of your choice into the stamp. Check out all 207 stamp designs currently available for sale at cupcaketree.etsy.com.

And last but not least, Ellen from Owl Paradiso, Thailand, paints beautiful whimsical scenes (often featuring owls) and sells the gorgeous prints in her Etsy shop.

One Ella reader today will win "Love is like an Elephant." This is an 8 x 10 Fuji Crystal Archive matt-finish print of the original oil pastel and acrylic artwork on paper. It's signed and dated on the back of the print. Check out all 193 of udonchow's paintings here.

To enter to win one of the four prizes above, simply leave a comment on this post describing what you most appreciate about elephants and how you plan to celebrate this momentous holiday.

While you're clicking around the web today, stop in and read through our Elephant Trivia page.

But no matter what you plan to do, we at Ella hope you have tons of fun!

Just leave a comment on this post describing your favorite kind of cupcake or birthday cake (or your most ingenious birthday-cake creation ever) by September 24, and you could win...

A Birthday in a Box! (Including the treats, party games, and decorations you see above, pictured in full on week 1 of our party.)

A $25 gift card to spend at Shutterfly.com on photo prints, photo books, or other amazing photo gifts!

A $25 coupon code to spend at Scrapbook.com on their mind-boggling assortment of scrapbooking supplies and goodies.

This complete paper collection (including journaling cards, brads, letter stickers, label stickers, and a mini paper pad) from Nikki Sivils Scrapbooker! This darling young company is one of Ella's blog sponsors, and we're grateful for their support—and for their fun product lines.

For Extra Entries

1) Tweet this message to your Twitter followers:
Loving @ellapublishing's Birthday Bash! Hope I win prizes from Shutterfly, Scrapbook.com & Nikki Sivils! How about you? http://ow.ly/2GRl7
2) Forward any recent Ella e-mail newsletter you've received to five crafty friends with a personal invitation to join our e-mail list. (There's a "forward email" link at the bottom of any Ella newsletter. Use that link!)
3) Buy yourself a fancy cupcake this week to celebrate. We promise that we will too!

Leave another comment below for each item above you completed by Friday, September 24. You can leave one comment for every five friends you email! This week's winner will be announced next Monday, and you'll have a brand new chance to win more awesome prizes! (Honor system for the extra entries please.)

On Sale This Week

Each week this month, a different Ella product will go on sale! (And if you receive Ella's newsletter, you got a one-time-use $1 coupon in your inbox during week one that you're also free to use.) This week, enjoy Text Tricks for Scrapbookers: Creative looks for titles and journaling by Margaret Scarbrough and Sara Winnick. Regularly $4.99, on sale for $3.99 this week only!

We've been home from that trip for more than five weeks now, and I haven't even looked at 50% of the photos I took while we were away. Quite frankly, I am overwhelmed by the sheer volume of photos I take when we travel as a family.

Thank goodness for my friends who offered to help me tackle my virtual piles of vacation photos that sit on my external hard drive, waiting to be scrapped! This is week 2 of my sketch-and-scraplift challenge in which I turn my friend's original double-page vacation layout into a sketch and then use it create my own two-pager.

This week, I want to introduce you to my good friend, Nathalie, the gal whose family we visited at the end of that 1241-photo vacation I mentioned above. She created this beautiful two-pager to help me jumpstart my creativity.

In case your French is as rusty as mine, here's Nathalie's explanation of the title and journalling:

"Every year, there are a few activities and outings that we absolutely need to do at least once during our summer vacation. Summer would just not be the same and wouldn't be complete without them."

She was able to choose photos taken of their favourite summertime activities from different years and combined them all one one page. What a brilliant way to showcase some favourite photos and memories without the pressure of creating a layout for each and every trip to the amusement park or beach!

I love the vibrant colours Nathalie used on her layout - they definitely help emphasize the summery theme. The title across the width of the two pages helps tie the two sides of the layout together, and visual triangle of orange elements (the big sun, the sunflower squares, and the photo of the campfire) help lead the viewer's eye across from one page to the next.

Before I started my own page, I turned Nath's page into a sketch.

I wanted to use some photos of our trip to San Diego two summers ago. Following Nathalie's lead, I decided to combine two SeaWorld outings onto one layout. Since my photos were a lot more detailed than hers, I chose to declutter my canvas by moving my title up into the corner and skipping the patterned paper accents. As I started to stick things down, I couldn't believe how full the page looked with just a touch of yellow paint, the ribbon and the chipboard letters. I added a few simple red embellishments, just to give the layout a punch of colour.

Thanks to Nathalie for sharing her creative efforts with Ella! I hope this peek into her creative process will inspire you to get scrapping your vacation pictures too.

In this class, we'll start from scratch by gathering recipes from family and friends. Then, we'll spice up the project with in-depth food photography lessons that help you put your creations in their best light. We'll finish by creating an album that unites recipes, photos and stories in one appealing package—and then get ready to “serve it forth” to family and friends as a printed, ready-to-share book. Perfect for holiday gift-giving or keeping on your own cookbook shelf, this is one project you and your family will savor forever.

The second spot is in a class that I am sure we all could use and need, Photo Preserves; Digitize, restore, and display your old photos, taught by Laura Vanderbeek.

In this two-week class, intermediate Photoshop and Photoshop Elements students will learn how to digitize and restore old color and black & white photographs. Laura will even share great ideas for sharing and displaying your beautifully restored images.

Halloween is right around the corner....seeing as how it is one of my most favorite holidays, I like to start enjoying it early on...just as September rolls in, as the leaves start turning, and as the breeze outside hints of fall. Today I've got a few Halloween gift ideas for you such as treats, decor, and simple greetings.

This first project is a bit of a different take on a candy bar wrap. I have a fetish for glassine bags and think they make everything look beautiful, so for this treat, I've simply packaged a candy bar inside a medium glassine bag.

The rest is just as simple...wrap a block of paper around the bag and then embellish. I used Papertrey Ink's Spooky Sweets stamp set for the pumpkin face. 7Gypsies tape works great as a border along the bottom edge, and then some scrunched seam binding from Memrie Mare's etsy shop adds a perfect finishing touch along the top edge of the bag.

A tea-stained tag from Mish Wooderson's etsy shop is just the right place for a hand stamped greeting from Papertrey Ink's Friendship Jar Fall Fillers stamp set.

This next project provides a sweet place for home baked goodies such as Pumpkin Pocket cookies.

I used a couple of small Frosted Bags from Papertrey Ink and embellished them with vintage images from Crafty Secrets Double-Sided Halloween Greetings Creative Scraps.

Once again a simple tag stamped using Papertrey Ink's Spooky Sweets stamp set adds a perfect place for the greeting and is attached using a miniature clothespin from Mish Wooderson's etsy shop.

If you find yourself running a bit short on time, this next project is made just for you...

All you need is some small cellophane bags, some colorful Halloween candy, a die cut, tag, or small doily, and stamps! I Glimmer Misted a few Martha Stewart doilies to age them a bit and then stamped them with Crafty Secrets Costume Cuties stamp set.

They are then tied to the bag with more scrunched seam binding, a vintage button and Baker's Twine from Papertrey Ink.

Keep your eyes open for some preprinted Halloween take-out boxes. I found these for .39 at my craft store and created a quick label for the front by using Papertrey Ink's Spooky Sweets II stamp set.

Ribbon in a couple of different colors tied in a double bow around the package finish your package off in a festive way.

A spooky card set is a great way to mix things up for Halloween.

A fun way to present your card set is by creating a matching pocket.

This project was created for Ally Scraps. A complete supply list and instructions can be found on the Ally Scraps blog.

Lastly...a little home decor for Halloween.

This Halloween cottage was created from a paper mache house found at Create for Less. It is dressed up in Graphic 45 Halloween in Wonderland papers, Maya Road goodies, glitter, buttons, vintage images, and other assorted toppings.

This project was also created for Ally Scraps. and all of the supplies used along with instructions can be found on the Ally Scraps blog.

Time to get your paper, scissors, and glitter out and enjoy a bit of Halloween before it's gone. I'm so happy to have had the chance to blog with you today. Happy Fall!Melissa Phillips

Leave another comment below for each item above you completed by Friday, September 17. You can leave one comment for every ten friends you invite! This week's winner will be announced next Monday, and you'll have a brand new chance to win more awesome prizes! (Honor system for the extra entries please.)

On Sale This Week

Each week this month, a different Ella product will go on sale! (And if you receive Ella's newsletter, you got a one-time-use $1 coupon in your inbox during week one that you're also free to use.) This week, enjoy Design Workshop: Become a design genius in 10 easy steps by Lisa Dickinson. Regularly $5.99, on sale for $5.49 this week only!

If you're like me, you KNOW where summer went. You've got lots and lots of photographic evidence of a summer well-spent on weeks long road trips and/or day trips near home. Yes, lots and lots of photos, and not a scrapbook page to show for it. Yet!

I asked three of my scrappy friends (all Canadians!) to help me get my trip photos scrapped. They each created a two-page layout to inspire me to scrap my own two-pager, and they've also provided me with some pointers to share with you. For the next three Fridays I will share a two-page layout, a sketch, and my interpretation of the layout. Come back and share yours!

As part of my own creative process, I turned each of their layouts into a sketch before I starting cutting papers or photos, so I'm going to share those sketches with you too.

"Journaling: I keep notes when I’m away with bits of information to aid my story telling when I get home to scrapbook. I almost exclusively journal using my computer, so I just transfer notes into a word document, fancy up the font, print it up and voilà, it’s all done! My current favourite fonts are: AlexandriaFLF and American Typewriter, both are serif fonts, which I find easier to read. All journaling is spaced 1.5 and I often “justify” the journaling to make it easier to read. I try to remember that my audience (me) is getting older so the font size is usually 11 or 12 points.

Photo Guilt: I’ve learned a few things about photography: some photos are taken as part of a story and some photos are taken to be beautiful photos. As a result, some belong in albums and the others belong in frames. The rest can be deleted. Yep. Deleted. I think we are often accosted by visual overwhelm. You cannot scrapbook every photograph you take; decide if they are scrapable, framable, blogable or deletable and go for it. I have never missed a deleted photo.

Embellishments: Keep them simple and consistent. Though I own a crazy number of embellishments, I don’t use many on my layouts. I like simple and classic geometric-based embellishments and I’m trilled to see punches are back in style!"

…..

When I saw Lee's photos, with the striking 2x6 prints, I knew right away that I'd have to change up the photo sizes to fit the landscape shots I was working with. I kept the dimensions of the photo block as a whole, and I incorporated small 4x3 photos into the mix.

I chose paper and embellishments from a single product line, just to simplify the process, and voila!

…..

Thanks so much to Lee for sharing her work and helping me one of my many trips crossed off my To Be Scrapped list! I hope you're inspired to get a few of your own vacation photos onto a page.

Hi, I’m Valerie Mangan and I am so excited to be here guest blogging at Ella Publishing today. I’d like to take a minute to wish Ella a very happy birthday. I’ve had and ‘Ella-va’ time reading this blog over the last year, participating in challenges and learning more about our hobby from their fabulous, informative eBooks! Can’t wait to see what they have in store for us in the upcoming year!

I am a scrapbooker. I started back in ’03 and didn’t start making cards until about 2 years ago. Since then, I’ve come to embrace this little part of the papercrafting world. I love the flexibility it offers, the variety of materials & techniques I can use, the smaller scale of the projects, and the fact that the finished product is a little gift in itself. I thought I’d focus today on using found items for cardmaking, particularly, vintage items found at yard sales & flea markets. Let me confess right off the bat that I love ‘old stuff’ and I am thrilled that the vintage trend has taken hold of the paper craft hobby.

Before I ever began seriously papercrafting, you could find me on the weekends sifting through boxes at yard sales and flea markets, searching for vintage ephemera. Amassing a stash that has become extremely handy! Here are just a few of the items I’m looking for when I’m on the hunt: anything made of paper, including packaging from sewing notions, sheet music, photography-related ephemera….

So you amass your giant pile of old paper, etc. – now what? Here are a few projects I’ve put together with items from my stash. (Let me mention here that one of the great things about all this – you don’t have to work in a particular style to use vintage material. It works with all styles.)

Button Packaging Cards
For these 2 cards I used the packaging that held the old buttons, direction side up, as the base ‘pattern.’ Then I layered the rest of the elements on top of them.

These are a score if you can find them because they combine not one, but 2 hot trends: sewing & vintage. Then, you can use the buttons for other stuff.

Here’s the same basic concept, this time with an old advertising postcard:

Photo Sleeve Card w/Vintage Photo Envelope

It’s a special thrill for me when I stumble onto photography-related ephemera. I found these 2 photo envelopes at an estate sale and they cost .25. I have used them on cards and layouts. I wish I had a few more. Using these I made a card that holds photos.

For this project, I simply cut the photo sleeve and a piece of photo-related coordinating paper into strips to match the stripe size on the blue patterned paper. I sewed it all together then added some stickers & the camera die cut.

Christmas Tags
Christmas and the holidays? I was lucky enough to stumble onto this old (‘not so old its precious’) book of odd Christmas stories. I picked it up to use the type pages but discovered while working on the tags below, that it has some pretty cool illustrations in it, as well.

For this project, I also used Christmas carol song books. I combined these two items, along with some paint and matte multi medium…and...

To make these tags

apply the sheet music to the tags with the matte multi medium. (Mod Podge could also work.)

fussy cut some of the illustrations from the book,

add to the tag with the multi medium, and then

painted them in with watercolor

I finished them off with some little dots of paint, some K & Co. holiday stickers, a length of washi tape at the bottom edge and a little string and ribbon.

Here’s another variation, using the type from the book. For this one I traced a flower shape onto the pages, cut them out and attached them to the tag with the multi medium. I highlighted the shapes with red paint, added a little glitter glue, tissue tape and stickers.

Last but not least, a birthday card made with a vintage cake decoration.

I trimmed off the prongs that would have stuck into the circa. 1960 cake and had an instant, cool, one-of-a-kind card embellishment.

Check out those paper piles at the next gargage, thrift, or estate sale you go to and start to collect your own goodies.

and Remember

1) You can add a truly unique and one-of-a-kind quality to all your projects.

2) Experiencing the ‘thrill of the hunt’ when you stumble onto that perfect piece of old ‘stuff’ that you know will complete a project you are working on.

3) It’s extremely affordable. I’ve picked up armloads of stuff at yard & estate sales for under a dollar!

Sure, it may be Ella's birthday, but we'd like to give fun presents to YOU!

Just leave us a happy birthday message on our blog by Friday, September 10, and you could win...

A Birthday in a Box! (Including all the treats, party games, and decorations you see above.)

A $25 gift card to spend at Shutterfly.com on photo prints, photo books, or other amazing photo gifts!

A $25 coupon code to spend at Scrapbook.com on their mind-boggling assortment of scrapbooking supplies and goodies.

For Extra Entries

1) Tweet this message to your followers:
@ellapublishing is one year old! Win a birthday party in a box or $25 to Shutterfly.com or Scrapbook.com!!! http://ow.ly/2A50a #giveaway
2) Join the Ella Publishing Facebook Group
3) Join Ella's email list
And leave another comment below for each item above you completed by Friday, September 10. You can enter four times this week alone! This week's winner will be announced next Monday, and you'll have a brand new chance to win these prizes and more! (Honor system for the extra entries please.)

On Sale This Week

Each week this month, a different Ella product will go on sale! (And if you receive Ella's newsletter, you got a $1 coupon in your inbox last week that you're also free to use.) This week, enjoy Eight is Enough: Easy ways to stretch supplies and use leftovers by April Foster and Studio Calico. Regularly $6.99, on sale for $5.99 this week only!

In the July issue of Scrapbook Ellaments, we announced an amazing ongoing contest based on Eight is Enough: Easy ways to stretch supplies and use leftovers by April Foster and Studio Calico. If you don't have the eBook yet, first of all BUY IT HERE (on sale for $5.99 for one week only--regularly $6.99!) or check out Celeste Smith's article to see what this cool contest is all about.

We were impressed with the gorgeous assortment of products she assembled and her gorgeous, minimalist execution. Some of the layouts are beautifully sparse, while others combine more patterns and techniques for an eclectic look. We are definitely fans of this talented scrapbooker!

Layout #1
added: white and brown cardstock, machine and hand stitching
Leah says: "I used 1 large sheet of pp backed by cardstock but I cut out the part of the paper behind the photo mat so I could use that on another LO. I cut out the little flowers from the paper and used pop dots to give some dimension and hand sewed little stems. The sun rays were thin scraps that I trimmed and sewed down."

Layout #2
added: white and turquoise cardstock, machine stitching and staples.
Leah says: "I cut circles of the patterned paper and then cut them in half. I mounted them on white cirlces to create the border. I used the half of the circle that I didn't use in the border under the tear in the cardstock."

Layout #3
added: white and yellow cardstock and hand stitching.
Leah says: "I used little strips of paper to create the mat for the photo. I cut flowers from the orange paper to use as accents. I used the negative large circle from my sticker sheet, filled it with cardstock, and then stitched around it to give an anchor for my stickers."

Layout #4
added: kraft and brown cardstock, machine and hand stitching.
Leah says: "I used little scraps of paper to cut different butterflies, layered them with brown cardstock and then sewed a little X on their bodies."

Leah has won Studio Calico's August kitand a $15 gift certificate to Ella Publishing Co. Below is the gorgeous current kit, up for grabs for September's winner! So warm up that paper trimmer and get scrapbooking...

Your Turn

It's your turn! We hereby challenge you to come up with your own list of eight items from your stash of supplies and to stretch your list into four great layouts. (Absolutely no shopping allowed.) Make sure you include a mix of papers, accents, tools, and alphabets—whether stamps, die-cuts, or stickers. You can only use the items on your list, but cardstock, fonts, and standard tools (such as trimmers, journaling pens, or a sewing machine) are freebies.

When you’re done, e-mail us pictures of all four of your layouts, plus a picture of your eight original supplies, and an explanation of how you stretched them, and we’ll pick one winner each month through March 2011! E-mail questions and entries to submissions@ellapublishing.com, with “Eight is Enough” in the subject line.

On September 1, 2009 at 8:03 p.m. MST, ellapublishing.com made her official entrance into the world. This little bundle of joy began offering top-quality eBooks, a free monthly eZine, and tons (get it? TONS? She's an elephant?) of blogging and memory-keeping fun.

To celebrate, we're having a party here on The Daily Trumpet every single Monday in September. Stop by each week for your chance to win incredible prizes from Ella Publishing Co. and our birthday-party sponsors Shutterfly and Scrapbook.com. There are hundreds of dollars of great prizes up for grabs. Hope you can make it!

Is there anyone else out there who shares Ella's birthday? Speak up, birthday buddies!